Wednesday – On the Road to Rhodes (with Ephesus update)

But before we begin today’s journey …

Tuesday (continued) Ancient Ephesus – History fact: during the years of the Roman Empire, the Greek port of Ephesus became the greatest city in Asia Minor.  We entered the ancient city through the Magnesian Gate.  We walked the streets where Mark Anthony and Cleopatra once rode in procession (you could almost picture Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor being there).  Among the marvels (and there are many) are the massive blocks of marble and stone that make up the avenue streets.  Remember all those pictures in your history books (and on travel brochures) that show ancient Roman and Greek ruins and how magnificent they seemed?  Believe me, they are for real!  Many artifacts recovered still reflect the original ancient Greek writing etched in the stone.  The marble and sandstone pillars are massive.  We viewed the forums (both private and public), the reconstructed remains of the Library of Celsus, the thermal baths of Scolastika and numerous continual archeological works still going on.  Remember all the pictures in your Another breathtaking experience and, after viewing the superb engineering, forethought  and obvious long term planning involved, one has to wonder “where did we go wrong?” 

(side note) if you are considering cruising in the future, try to find a vessel with open dining availability.  Somehow we ended up at the late seating time which means (earliest) 8:45 evening dining.  Which means, if you don’t want the buffet, you don’t get done until about 11:00 p.m.   When you’ve been hoofing it over what seems like the long lost route to Shangri-La, you really want to grab some grub and call it a day. 

Rhodes and Philerimos

We  docked at 7:00 a.m. and our tour left at 7:30 a.m.  Looked like rain at first, but it was only overcast in the early a.m. 

(side note: tourist season on “the islands” goes from late March to the end of November.  We asked one of the tour guides what he did from December for March when the tourist season slowed down and his reply was … “Pray!”  According to locals we have been lucky not to have encountered any rain.  Actually the weather has been mostly pleasant).

We started off our bus tour by driving along the medieval walls to the summit of Mount Smith, the Acropolis of ancient Rhodes.  The tumbled massive pillars of the Temple of Athena and the port once protected by the Colossus of Rhodes (the two base pillars still exist but the original statue was destroyed by an earthquake.  Ships entered by sailing between his legs (ouch!).  This was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.  We also visited the summit of Philerimos and the restored Byzantine Church of Our Lady of Philerimos (talk about a turn around – was originally a catholic church, then converted to a moslem temple then converted to a Greek Orthodox church – whose on first?).  Beautiful inside and out with lots of ancient Greek Orthodox icons.  Also included long path with stations of the cross leading to a massive crucifix where you could climb to the top).    Now off to Crete and Santorini (pronounced SAN torenee).